Learning from My Mistakes

I’ve been wracking my brain thinking of the best way to make my debut on the Come Recommended intern blog. I’ll start with an introduction: My name is Sarah Morgan, and I am the new corporate relations intern at Come Recommended.

I’m honored to be given the opportunity to be here; to say I’ve been off to a rocky start would be an understatement. I joined Twitter a few months ago after reading an article in the Wall Street Journal about companies posting more jobs on Twitter. I figured I ought to jump on the bandwagon and see what expanding my social media presence was all about.  After reading a tweet by Heather, I looked into Come Recommended and submitted an application to join the intern team. And then I heard nothing.

Or so I thought. It turns out that though I have received my school e-mails on my Gmail account for the last two years, UNC recently changed its policy. Starting in the middle of October, unbeknownst to me (likely because I failed to read all of the policy changes), those e-mails stopped being forwarded. So I still received my e-mails to my @unc.edu account, but I did not check them, since I thought they were being delivered to account that I checked. When I discovered the error, three weeks later, I discovered that I had missed out on an interview request from Heather, and TWO requests for interviews at other companies.

Being an avid reader of my Emily Post handbook and a stickler for proper etiquette, I immediately e-mailed profuse apologies to the people whose requests went unanswered due to my own error. Lucky for me, Heather gave me a second chance. She did point out that if I was not applying to be an intern, my apology probably would have gone ignored. I can understand her position, and I understand that in the world of digital communications, I need to shape up or ship out. Saying that “I did not see the e-mail” is just not a valid excuse, particularly if I am applying for jobs and learning how to behave in a professional world. I am working on that. I know how difficult it is for other people to swallow the excuse that “the dog ate my e-mails.”

In any case, the whole experience taught me something that I should have figured out long ago. When I proofread my resume and cover letter for typos and grammar errors, I need to also check that the links to my blog and Web site and my contact information are correct. It is unbelievably unprofessional to ask someone to contact me and then not respond because I failed to check an address or because the sender’s e-mail got lost in my spam trap.

The situation also brought to light the beauty of working for a small, entrepreneurial venture like Come Recommended. Working with Heather, who has dedicated her career to assisting entry-level job candidates, has put me in direct contact with someone who has worked with people who are wading into the professional world. She is sympathetic to the early mistakes that people beginning their careers will make, and for that, I will be eternally grateful.

Those other e-mails that got lost? Those were from a large firm, wanting me to set up an interview. I have not heard from them, despite following up by phone and e-mail.

All in all, it was an expensive lesson to learn, but one I am glad to have learned now — and not ten years down the road. The moral of the story is check your e-mail if you list it, answer your phone when you say you’re going to. It may seem like common sense advice, but I assure you, you will make a mistake in the job-hunting process because quite frankly, no one is perfect.  But hedge your bets, and take control of everything that you have power over. I am excited to begin an internship with Come Recommended, with Heather and the rest of the new intern team. I can only hope that the mistakes that I have made in the last few months can be of some benefit to other job seekers.